VAR audio explains Huijsen red card and Cuti Romero yellow in Madrid derby

The audio recordings between referee Miguel Ángel Ortiz Arias and the video assistant referee shed light on the two most controversial moments of Sunday's Madrid derby at the Metropolitano. Released by the Royal Spanish Football Federation and LaLiga, the tapes confirm that Cristian 'Cuti' Romero's challenge on Jude Bellingham was reviewed exclusively for a case of mistaken identity, while Dean Huijsen's dismissal came after the referee determined there was no attempt to play the ball and Thibaut Courtois was too far away to intervene.

• The VAR told Ortiz Arias he had booked the wrong player in the incident between Cuti Romero and Bellingham.
• The referee cancelled the yellow card shown to the English midfielder and booked the Argentine defender in the 39th minute.
• In the 51st minute, the VAR recommended a review of Huijsen's hold on Giuliano Simeone for a potential dogso offence.
• Ortiz Arias requested a wide angle to check Courtois' position and decided the goalkeeper could not reach the ball.
• Huijsen's yellow card was upgraded to a straight red and the penalty was upheld.

How the VAR corrected the Cuti Romero and Bellingham incident

The 39th-minute challenge created a moment of confusion at the Metropolitano. Miguel Ángel Ortiz Arias had shown a yellow card to Jude Bellingham after a collision with Cuti Romero, but VAR official Daniel Jesús Trujillo stepped in immediately to correct the referee's call. The video room was not questioning the severity of the foul, but rather the identity of the player who had committed it.

I recommend a review so you can assess a potential error... A case of mistaken identity.

The VAR's description of the images was unequivocal: the Atlético de Madrid player stamped on the Real Madrid man, who had reached the ball first. With that guidance, Ortiz Arias needed no further checks. He announced he was cancelling the yellow card shown to Bellingham and booking Cuti Romero instead. The decision closed the debate over a possible red card for the Argentine centre-back, which Real Madrid's bench had demanded on the grounds that the tackle deserved a stronger punishment.

What the VAR saw in Dean Huijsen's red card

Twelve minutes after the first intervention, the VAR called Ortiz Arias again. This time, the referee had awarded a penalty and shown a yellow card to the Real Madrid centre-back for holding Giuliano Simeone as the Argentine forward bore down on Courtois' goal. Daniel Jesús Trujillo invited the official to review the play because, from the video room, he believed it was a clear goalscoring opportunity denied by a hold with no attempt to win the ball.

Ortiz Arias walked to the monitor and, after watching the replay, asked for a wide angle to check the Belgian goalkeeper's exact position. That check proved decisive. The referee admitted his initial reading had been wrong: he thought Courtois could get to the play, but the wide shot showed the keeper was not close enough to intervene. With that information and the lack of an attempt by Huijsen to play the ball, he upgraded the yellow card to a straight red and upheld the spot kick.

Why the decision fits the dogso rule

Huijsen's dismissal is explained by the rule that punishes a player with a red card for denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity, known in refereeing terms as dogso. Several conditions must be met for this sanction to apply: the offence must take place outside the penalty area, the attacker must have a clear chance to score and the defender must not have attempted to play the ball. The hold on Giuliano Simeone met all those requirements.

The assessment of the goalkeeper's distance completed the analysis. Ortiz Arias initially had doubts precisely because of Courtois' position, which could have turned the play into something other than an obvious opportunity. Once he saw on the monitor that the Belgian international could not reach the ball, the interpretation was settled: there was a clear goalscoring chance denied by a holding foul with no attempt to play the ball, making the red card the correct decision under the laws of the game.

The role of VAR in the two key derby decisions

The match at the Metropolitano featured two VAR interventions that shaped the outcome of the contest. The first corrected an identification error and prevented Bellingham from carrying an undeserved booking while Cuti Romero would have escaped punishment. The second upgraded Huijsen's sanction and left Real Madrid down to ten men with a penalty against them during the second half.

Beyond the controversy over the result, the audio recordings allow fans to reconstruct the criteria applied in both decisions. The mistaken identity case was resolved quickly because the images left no doubt about who had committed the foul. The red card required a more detailed analysis, with the goalkeeper's position as the key element. The referee's reasoning, backed by the VAR recommendations, was captured transparently in the recordings published by the RFEF and LaLiga.

What was at stake in the Metropolitano derby

Atlético and Real Madrid arrived at the match with the LaLiga title race tighter than ever. The home side were defending their status as leaders in front of their own fans, while the visitors needed a win to stay in control of their own destiny in the final stretch of the season. Every point in these direct clashes counts double, and refereeing decisions are scrutinised precisely because they can alter the standings.

Huijsen's dismissal in the 51st minute left Real Madrid a man down for more than half an hour and sparked a tense finish to the game. The subsequent penalty, converted by the home team, proved a heavy blow for the visitors. With the VAR audio now in the public domain, attention shifted from the pitch to the debate over the interpretation of the incidents and the refereeing performance in a high-stakes environment.

Frequently asked questions about the VAR decisions in the derby